The fantastic sky boats of Ian McQue continue to inspire LEGO builders far and wide. This latest iteration from Dwalin Forkbeard freshens the style by using different angles than we’ve seen before. The bow of the craft uses long slopes at an angle that resembles a Viking ship — a motif that is reinforced by the tires hanging off the sides like rune-covered Norse shields. Meanwhile, the cabin of the ship has a jaunty lean, reminding us that this style is just as much fiction as science. And of course the mechanical details are great throughout. Plus, it doesn’t smell like rotting fish.

Nothing. It’s too dang cold for this beautifully crafted LEGO animal to waste energy on words. Instead, it waits patiently for a morsel of protein to sally forth from a hole in the snow. Although the woodland creatures of Miro Dudas are breathtaking to behold, don’t forget to notice the expertly detailed tuft of grass yearning for spring, or the complex topography of the pristine frozen landscape. Winter has come.

And what does the wolf say? Something along the lines of “Arrr-ooooo!” Which, strangely, is also what a pirate says when he sees a nice boat.

On a bright spring morning, troops from two nearby castles converged at one of the bridges of County Madison. Fat trout could be seen swimming in the creek below, and all agreed that it was a prime spot for fishing. But no one could decide who should make the first cast. As things often went in the era of Castle, violence ensued and blows were traded. By the time the melee was finished, all the fish had been scared away. The moral of the story? Isaac S. makes pretty awesome medieval bridges.

Kids, the key to a really great photo-realistic mosaic is to build big, using simple colors. Oh, and make sure you choose an extremely cool character. Let me tell you, nobody is cooler than Sir Michael Caine. If you only know him as Alfred in the Nolan Batman trilogy, or as Austin Powers’ “fahjah,” you are missing out on one of the hippest cats in the history of British cinema. David Hughes has captured an iconic photograph from 1965, 5 years before Caine finally quit smoking.

Spoiler alert: most UFO pictures are faked, including this one. Teal is a very rare color, and most of these bricks were never made in it. Which makes this virtual model all the more striking. Digital artist dunkleosteus_ldd used Lego Digital Designer and Bluerender to design this uniquely shaped alien craft. Perhaps it could be built in real life using a more common color. Would it still look this cool in red?

After a hard day’s raiding and pillaging, a fearless warrior needs some time to kick back and relax. Scale the heights of the watch tower, leap from the pier, or take a nap in the cozy hall! Activities include fishing, swimming, stashing treasure, polishing weapons, herding goats, and standing guard. Brick Vader displays it all, on an incredibly tiny and detailed piece of real estate. Great trees and great rockwork, all using a cohesive earthy palette. Only thing missing is the longboat.

This giant mecha from kenny_yan looks like it could transform at any moment. The wheels in the shoes and the turbines on the shoulders make me think… jetcar. Not much to say about this man-powered suit, except that it looks big, lean, mean, and uses a scattering of stickers to great effect. And holy cow, photography class: study this snap to become a master.

Here’s proof that you don’t need a lot of colors to build an exciting and dynamic model. Simple grays and white convey the power of the water and the feat of engineering in this vignette of a Russian dam by vir-a-cocha. This model is also notable for its excellent mix of studs and tiles, conveying both industrial realism and naturalistic landscaping simultaneously. I’d love to see an Architecture set like this.

This dangerous looking spaceship is filled with clever techniques and interesting parts. The extensive use of Technic gear racks is especially menacing, but the real standout here is the innovative sticker usage. They weren’t custom printed. Rather, Adrian chopped up a bunch of the yellow stickers from set 75053 The Ghost (from Star Wars Rebels) and placed them on the model in an interesting pattern. The stickers were already printed to be scruffy-looking, but the builder wanted them to be even scruffier. So he abraded the stickers by rubbing the model back and forth on a wooden table. The stickers aren’t shiny and smooth any more, but the result is definitely worth it.